Alcoholics Anonymous Requires Belief in God

Most AA members say that following the 12 steps doesn’t require a belief in God but only in a Higher Power that can be whatever you want it to be. This is the “door knob theory” according to which the Higher Power can be a door knob, a tree, a rock, a Pepsi can, or anything else you want it to be.

However, Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill W. refers to God 133 times in the 2013 edition of the Big Book. He uses the capitalized pronouns (He, His, Him, Thou, Thy and Thee) 81 times in referring to God. He is clearly referring to God when he writes of the Creator (with capital “C”) 12 times, the Maker (with capital “M”) twice, as well as to the Father and the Father of Light (with capitals). In no case does he mention Door Knob, Tree, Rock, Pepsi Can, or the Anything Else that you want it to be. But he does say that for an alcoholic to be delivered from alcoholism, “The only condition is that he trust in God and clean house.”

AA ‘s other co-founder, Dr. Bob, explains in the Big Book that “Your Heavenly Father will never let you down!”

None of this is surprising because Alcoholics Anonymous was built on the religious principles of the Oxford Group, a fundamentalist Christian movement at the time. It’s also not surprising that the Supreme Court of the United States has affirmed appeals court findings that AA is a religious organization or engages in religious activities. That’s why it’s illegal for any governmental agent (court, V.A., social services agency, prison, etc.) to require anyone to attend AA meetings or to read AA literature.

The non-religious (but not anti-religious) St. Jude Cognitive Behavioral Education program has a demontrated long term success rate of 62%, compared with AA’s short term success rate of only about 5%.

About Mark W. Scheeren

After completing a court mandated drug and alcohol treatment program in 1989, Mark Scheeren realized the “treatment” he received left him more depressed and anxious. A chance meeting with researcher Jerry Brown started a collaborative research effort spanning over a quarter century and lead to the development of the first non-12 step method, the Saint Jude Retreats and the St. Jude Program with Mark serving as its first graduate and now as Research Fellow and Chairman. Together Jerry, Mark and their research team continuously test and refine the methods known as the Saint Jude Program and the Cognitive Behavioral Learning (CBL) approach it supports through the longest observational study of "addiction" ever documented (26 years - March '15)